So I guess I'll have to catch you up myself. I've been a busy little beaver! I've made even more--frankly surprising!--progress on In the Garden. Can you see the bird bath? I think it looks pretty great even without backstitching.
I made another zipper pouch from fabric that CC passed on to me. (I love receiving fabric scraps! Even though it means my stash is overflowing.) This voluptuous floral just rocks my world.
And Operation Headcover continues. I've made two helmet liners so far and have another one on the needles. I have yarn enough for a total of five. (We'll see how that works out.)
Tiny's Slayer Sox near the finish line. I'm loath to complete them, though. They are so good for bad times. We went to see a very good play, Song of Extinction, last night. It's about a heavy subject, so I needed knitting. I got about an inch of the foot done just sitting in the dark, trying not to cry. When I got 'em into the light, there was a whole new stripe of color!
And then we come to Marine Comfort Quilt blocks. Well, Battlestar Galactica Fleet Power Battle group on Ravelry posted new missions this month. One was "Colonial Day": I was to make something patriotic. Some people are patriotic in the Battlestar Galactica universe or to a particular team or state. This is one of those charities that I occasionally help out in. I had three done and put away to ship off when I had more. So I dug 'em out and made ten more. I'll send 'em on Tuesday. Yay! 
I totally recommend this group if you're a quilter. If you have odd blocks sitting around, all you have to do is get 'em up to 12 1/2" square, sign 'em, and send 'em! When I have five, I send 'em. (Or thirteen, in this case.)
Or fronts and backs--depends on how you look at 'em. 
I know! So very very many pouches! 
I just couldn't stop myself. 
And I came up with a fun idea: I put the name of the quilt that it came from on the tag. I may be the only one who cares, but it pleaseth me. 
There are sixteen pictured here, front and back, so there's 32 pictures. 
Yeah, I said 32.
It's been so odd here. 
I keep hearing about how hot it is elsewhere. 
We're getting the coldest temperatures on record for July and August. 
This is SoCal: I should be sweating and complaining. 
Instead, I'm wearing sweaters to go out for a walk and flannel pajamas.
No, not the pajamas to go for a walk... 
unless I've been sleepwalking... 
note to self: set up videocamera tonight. 
And no complaining or even whining!
And here's the back Cathy made.
I've been working on more zipper pouches. This is the front of one.
And this is what I originally was going to use for the back. 
Something just struck me as wrong, so I used that for lining and chose this for the back instead.
It's in process. I'll show you the finished project soon.
Finished the Gorgeous Butt(e) socks and I'm wearin' 'em right now. They are so pretty the picture can't show how much I like them. So trust me. I like them! (I'd say I LOVE them but I can't bring myself to love things. It's people I love. Okay, maybe the planet, but people mostly. And really good cheese.)
So today I took all five pouches to my knitting group, sold three, and came home. Then I took pictures. Dur. That means I have... only... two to show you. Again I say, dur. But here they are. This one is the same front and back: 
And this one has a little variety. Front... 
...and back.
I got a wild hair and did a little machine embroidery--a special bonus. Don't ever expect that to happen again. It's... uh, a special edition. Yeah. I guess they all are, though. I mean, I make 'em from scraps so I just use up what's there. No two alike. Like snowflakes. 'Cept they don't melt when you catch 'em on your tongue.
We rang in the New Year, or maybe ran off the old, with family and friends. A little champagne to celebrate and some black-eyed peas for good luck. 
There's a tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's that goes all the way back to ancient Babylon. It's supposed to bring prosperity and, in this climate, my Hoppin' John didn't go begging. 
Still, there were leftovers so I had some for breakfast. I think that put me in the way to have a great day. That, and the fact that my Prayer Quilt Ministry was resuming today. Here's what it's like: we use a large downstairs room in the church. Tables and chairs are set out for us. We open the closet and get out
Applecheeks, our glorious leader, usually gets there a little early to set up. And then there's the food. Oh, there's always some kind of candy-nut mix, and somebody usually brings in fruit, sometimes a lunchie kinda thing like sandwiches or casserole, cheese, chips, and often an experimental something gooey somebody was trying out the recipe for. 
We talk about anything and everything, keeping it away from gossip but all other subjects are available for discussion. Sometimes a little venting and commiseration is important, but a lot of stories and advice and laughter happens. We pray for each other. And eat. Oh, yeah, and we work on prayer quilts, too. If there's time.
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